Stout are a German duo: Simon Schere and Mario Kuzyna (who bears a disturbing resemblance to Sid Kipper). Both sing and play guitar while Simon plays banjo and mandolin and Mario plays accordion and they are supported on fiddle and bass by Oorni and Jens. Their starting point is Irish folk but as Make Way demonstrates they take it much further.
The opening track, ‘Ouverture’ is rather disconcerting with repeated singing of “make way” but it slips easily into ‘McAlpine’s Fusiliers’ from the early 60s Dubliners, a song I haven’t heard for years. That is followed by ‘The Bonny Ship The Diamond’ – more Scottish than Irish, but no matter. By now, you’ll have worked out that this isn’t a typical folk club set – it’s big and brash and dynamic and loud – but changes are on the horizon. ‘The Molly Maguires’ was another song from The Dubliners, written by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. The Molly Maguires were a secret society of Pennsylvania coalminers and agitators but the song glosses over the more unpleasant details, including the hanging of ten men. It too is interspersed with the “make way” chant.
Next comes a set of banjo-led slides including, believe it or not, a version of the Star Trek Next Generation title theme! You have to listen carefully to pick it out. We’re back on familiar territory with ‘Go To Sea No More’ and ‘Arthur McBride’ and now comes the first change with the jolly Gaelic song, ‘Peigin Leiter Moir’. The delicate ‘Tir Na nÓg’ was, of course, written by Leo O’Kelly of the band of the same name and is followed by a set of accordion-led jigs.
Tommy Makem wrote ‘Farewell To Carlingford’, also recorded by The Dubliners, sung over an insistent accompaniment and then it’s back to the tradition with ‘The Foggy Dew’ which may have begun with a 17th century broadside. Or not. This is not the expected song about seduction but a song by Charles O’Neill set in 1916 about a young Irishman forced to fight for the British. The Chieftains recorded the only other version I could locate.
A set of jigs leads into Christian Sedelmyer and Rachel Baiman’s ‘Anxious Annie’, a more modern song with a bluesy tinge and recorded by the Nashville duo as Ten String Symphony. If this were a TV show it would be a series finale setting up for something different. In fact it is followed by ‘Reprise’ a mash-up of excerpts from all the tracks. Make Way isn’t your typical Irish folk album but it is very inventive and very enjoyable.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ website: https://www.stout-music.de/
Promo video:
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